A new spin on an old thing…..

Over the past little while, you’ve probably seen the Christmas decorations appear in the shops, the fruit mince pies at the bakery, the Pavlova recipes in the glossy magazines and began to have conversations with close friends and family about how you will celebrate the Christmas and New Year period. For some, this may make them quite nervous and anxious, for others, it may still be a time of year they get excited about.

Christmas is just a regular day in the year for you and when it comes to eating. Remember food is food. It is not good, it is not bad. It is just food and it nourishes your body, and some of the most enjoyable experiences in life are often had whilst enjoying food. Eating certain food doesn’t make you a good person or a bad person. Food is also not a reward. It is just food. Should we feel guilty about eating something? Definitely not. Once we start to label food, we often restrict or deprive ourselves of that food, particularly if trying to lose weight and as soon as we do this, our body instinctively want that forbidden food. Remember the food funeral you had before you started your pre op diet?

Ideally, in a perfect world we would like you to recognize food as just food. Food is healthy; some foods are healthier than others. Banning the less healthy foods is not the answer to improving your relationship with food though and once you stop labelling food as good or bad, you will then be able to allow yourself to enjoy a variety of foods without the guilt and that’s what we call eating intuitively and mindfully.

With that being said, remember, Christmas is just another regular day when it comes to eating. Choose foods that you like and enjoy, eat slowly, fill up your plate with protein and veg, don’t eat and drink at the same time and enjoy each mouthful.

The focus of Christmas this year should be around the time spent with family and friends and not food from that day.

To your wellness,
Brianna Fear-keen
Accredited Practising Dietitian at WLSA.